The new office!

Above is a little picture of the new office, which we have literally just moved into. It's got good light, is a reasonable size and has wooden floors and I can't wait to start working on it! There is quite a bit of arranging, a number of boxes to be unpacked, and some painting to be done. Today, I am waiting for a Dutch colonial antique cabinet to arrive that I ordered in Sri Lanka. It goes to show how expensive things in England are that even with the shipping, it works out way cheaper than buying it here and I am really looking forward to getting it. So keep checking back, and hopefully there will be some good "after the makeover" shots!

Lovebirds

Around this time, the birds around my flat get incredibly noisy, which I find amazing considering I live in central London. I don't know much about birdsong, but there seem to be quite a number of different calls and they sound quite exotic. It is beautiful and so intense that sometimes when I wake and have my eyes closed I can almost imagine I'm in the middle of a rainforest. Unfortunately, it does happen at four in the morning so I do get a little sleep deprived around this time! My friend Andrea told me that they are all looking for mates and that is why they are singing so intently. Last year, the calls slowly dwindled off one by one as no doubt they all happily paired off, except for one sorry chap who continued for months afterwards. I can only think he was left on his own. Anyway, all this got me to thinking that I should paint a little lovebirds image to put on a card, and here's the finished article!

Summer time

Hooray!! One hour less sleep last night, but the start of British summer time (if that's not a contradiction in itself). Here's hoping it's a little bit warmer than last year!

Spanish meadows

I just realised that I hadn't mentioned on my blog about my lovely trip to Seville over Easter. It was totally wonderful from the Semana Santa (Holy week) celebrations, to the delicious tomato salads to the air that smelt so strongly of orange blossom and rosemary. But the most wonderful thing about the trip was possibly the countryside outside of Seville, especially around El Real de Jara. I had thought Spain was arid and rugged, so it was a complete surprise to see lush green fields and the most beautiful meadows overflowing with flowers. There was wild lavender everywhere, sprinkles of white across the fields because they were full of daisies, yellow flowering bushes that looked almost like oncidium orchids, dry stone walls, and fields full of grazing cattle and little black pigs. It would be hard not to be inspired by a meadow full of purple, yellow and white flowers being visited by bees and cabbage butterflies, so expect meadows to crop up in some anzu designs before the year is out!

Why not? (3)

We've been busy trying to think of display ideas at anzu, so to continue with our blogs on this theme, why not use a desk, or jewellery box with drawers to display cards? The drawers can be pulled out and used to stock the selection. I saw a particularly effective display of our cards in the General Trading company, where they had used a bureau with a line of drawers, which were pulled out and filled with our men's cards all the way up to the till.

Chinoiserie

As you may know I love Chinoiserie, and I always think of anzu illustrations as being essentially English but influenced by Asian design be it Japanese, Chinese or even Tibetan. I think that cross between East and West often results in something special and different. Chinoiserie started in the seventeenth century, with the West translating traditional Chinese images and decorating everything from china to cabinets to architecture with them. Preoccupation with Chinese styles was so strong that whole Chinese villages were even built in Sweden and Russia, and rulers such as Augustus the Strong built Chinese summer style palaces. Aside from the look of it, I love that chinoiserie often captures an exotic fairyland, full with cobweb bridges, bamboo pavilions overlooking lakes filled with water-lilies, vases full of lotuses, and swinging lanterns. So I have decided to do a new Chinoiserie range to launch in Summer. Some of you may remember our previous collection, but I am working at the moment on a variety of new images for a new range on the same theme, and in addition bringing back a couple of popular discontinued images such as the Screen vase above (currently only available in the US). Keep checking back for more details!

Easter

I love Easter, finally winter feels like it is at an end, I really like all the spring colours of mauve and sunny yellow, and shops like Fortnum and Masons on Piccadilly are such a treat with their displays of Easter hatboxes and chocolate boxes decorated with bees, hummingbirds and rabbits.

My Slovenian friend was also telling me all about how they celebrate Easter there, and I'd love to do something similar here. In her hometown of Ptuj they have family and friends round and have a big ham, salami, Russian potato salad, eggs, milk bread, and most importantly copious amounts of champagne! In Scandinavia, people decorate with vases full of pussy willows and pale birch branches from which they hang brightly coloured feathers and little decorations, which I also like the sound of. Have a great Easter weekend!

Above image: our new Jewelled egg card

Why not? (2)

To continue with our display idea posts, why not use teddy bears to hold our teddy bears' picnic card, or to display children's cards hang them on a make-shift washing line along with pastel coloured babygros or socks? Everything is always so cute in miniature and I think our small gift enclosure cards look really sweet with these little baby socks.

Atonement

I have been eagerly waiting for Atonement to come out on dvd, not because I especially liked the film, but because I love the interiors and the quintessential English look of the first half of it. As I am still working on getting things together for my new office and adore that 1930s English look, (which I try and get in my painting as much as possible), it is particularly inspiring to me. I love the floral blue bedroom wallpaper, the 30s silk dressing gowns, the faded chintz armchairs, the varied floral prints in the nursery, and even the bunch of stocks and garden flowers Keira Knightley gathers. It was filmed at Shropshire mansion Stokesay Court, and surprisingly (because it looks as if it somehow has a modern take on a traditional look), the original 1892 interiors of the house weren't changed much for the film.

Glass slippers, nightingales, and elves

Looking through my books for inspiration this weekend, I pulled out my book of Hans Andersen stories, which had also been my Dad's when he was a child. Even though I grew up with the illustrations, everytime I look at it I am still amazed at the elegance, wit and at times surprising edginess of Rex Whistler's drawings (see top left). The other book is a selection of stories illustrated by Edmund Dulac, whose designs are delicately coloured and totally magical. I am often asked which illustrators I admire, and I find many are children's book illustrators, whether it's E.H.Shephard and his sensitive and witty drawings for Winnie the Pooh, or John Tenniel and his woodcuts for Alice in Wonderland. Ivan Bilibin is another favourite - his illustrations are decorative and rich with Russian folklore of extravagantly dressed Kings, mystical forests and carved wooden architecture (see below).

Display ideas (part 1)!

We thought for all buyers out there, it would be fun to come up with some different ways to display cards in your shop. Doing trade shows myself, I know that cards aren't always the easiest things to display so keep checking in because we'll be posting lots of ideas.

This first one is a really decorative and space effective way of displaying cards. You could use ribbon or string, and string across/down walls, behind your till or across picture frames as above. Below, Jasmine has pegged (if there is such a word!) them onto different strands of pearls.

Cornwall work

Just putting my work in a folder to go to the scanners, and thought I'd post a little selection of some of the paintings I did in Cornwall. We really need a more comprehensive range of business stationery for ourselves, so I've been working on designs for a new Anzu letterhead, compliment sheets, invoices etc.

The Lost gardens of Heligan

I have been on a little working holiday in Cornwall the past few days. I totally love Cornwall, whether it's the rugged almost beautifully surreal landscape with crashing waves against steep cliffs, to the Manderley style old manor houses with rooks circling overhead, to the cute little candy coloured fishing villages. Plus it also happens to be the home of the cream tea! The light is so good that painting down there is great, plus my mobile never works so I always manage to get a lot done. It is a great place to be inspired and this time I paid a visit to the Lost gardens of Heligan. For those of you who haven't been, Heligan was the seat of the Tremayne family for more than four hundred years. Hidden by bramble and ivy, this sleeping nineteenth century garden had been lost but has now been restored so you can see the gardens in all their glory. A highlight is the large tropical garden known as "the jungle" full of the finds of Victorian plant hunters, banana palms and giant rhubarb. Above is a photo of a section of this, and below is the gardener's shed. I love the basic, rustic look of it, with the old teapot and the brick walls but with the loving touches of a roaring fire and a vase of anemones. To read more about Heligan, visit their website on www.heligan.com The beginning is enchanting.

Decorating my office

I might not have actually found my new office yet, but that hasn't stopped me decorating it (in my head anyway). My home is neutral and simple, so for the office I want something completely different. I would like it to have English chintzy chairs, old cabinets, ferns and plenty of inspiration boards. I can't wait! Above is my idea pinboard for it, and below is a Paul Smith interior that I really like.

Bringing up Baby offer

To celebrate the March paperback release of Bringing up Baby by Daisy Goodwin with anzu drawings and lettering on the cover, and packed full of anzu illustrations we would like to offer English and US trade customers 10% off our piglet range for children and babies on orders placed in March.

Above and below: Images from Bringing up Baby, published by Hodder & Stoughton.

Happy Mother's Day!

I would like to say Happy Mother's Day to my Mum, whom some of you may have met at some of the trade shows and who is also my agent in the North, and to say a big thank you to her for everything and for doing such a brilliant job for anzu!

Notebooks

I always keep notebooks (really visual diaries) full of images I like, written ideas and descriptions, and little sketches. I find them invaluable to refer to when I'm working on a new collection as I am now, and for evolving my style. These are my notebooks from Japan.

PIE books

I love books published by PIE. Unfortunately, they are expensive but they have so many great, inspiring graphic and packaging designs in them that I just can't resist. I just got this book "Shop images in London". It doesn't come across in my photo, but it was a lovely surprise to see the designs I did for the Berkeley pret a portea featured in it. I had no idea they were going to be in there!

The Hummingbird bakery

I popped down the road to lunch with my friend Julia today and we couldn't help but stop by at the Hummingbird bakery on Portobello road. The cakes are sweet but moist and with treats like red velvet cupcakes, yellow vanilla cake, and lemon meringue pie who could resist? I also think the name Hummingbird bakery is so enchanting. To me hummingbirds conjure up images of elegant irridescent feathered birds in tropical gardens overflowing with flowers such as hibiscus and verbenas in vivid shades of red, orange and bright pink. Funny, how much cupcakes seem to have become a craze here in the past few years, and I have to say I am certainly guilty of contributing to this trend having munched my way through a fair number and even having painted them on my cards (see my painted cupcake image below)!

Cupcakes card

Anzu

For those of you who have been asking, anzu means apricot in Japanese. I love apricots, apricot blossoms (which are pink or white) and I love Japan so that's why I picked anzu. Apricots also appear in Midsummer Night's dream as an aphrodisiac, so what more could you want? I started my business after an inspirational trip to Japan (it made me want to pick up the paint brush again) so I knew I'd like to have a Japanese name for my company. Japan really is a mecca to illustrators; there is quirky illustration everywhere, it is fantastic to see Geisha walking by you in their exquisite hand-painted silks, and I love that attention to quality and beauty there is second to none, whether it is kaiseki cuisine or ikebana flower arrangements.

There also happens to be a cocktail called anzu! It is made with

1 1/2 oz gin

1 oz apricot brandy

1 oz Cointreau orange liqueur

1 tsp lemon juice

Shake with ice, strain into a chilled cocktail glass, and serve. Enjoy!

My paints

I am often asked how I work and what medium I like to work in. Above is my painting equipment, which has everything from gold powder to scarlet ink to Japanese rubbers shaped like pot noodles! I generally paint in gouache but like to mix it with inks, fibre-tip pens and pastels. Yesterday, I decided to stock up on art supplies so I went to L.Cornelissen & Son in Covent garden. I love to shop there as it has everything, is beautifully old-fashioned and is rather like a 19th century apothecary with large jars of amazing coloured pigments, wooden shelves with pastels laid out with cigars, and bottles of gold leaf be it English, Dutch or French. Most importantly for me though they stock Schminke gouache paints, the quality of which is amazing. I think quality is especially apparent in certain colours not least prussian blue and scarlet and I love the density of their black calligraphy gouache too. Cornelissens is also a shop with a history, it was established in 1855 and has provided art supplies to artists such as Ford Maddox Brown, Dante Gabriel Rosetti and in present days Damien Hirst.

L.Cornelissen & Son

Happy Valentines Day!

Here is a bottle of our love potion - hoping you won't need it today!!

Image: Love potion card

Valentines

Valentines day is coming. Celebrate by sending one of our hopeless romantics cards (above is our scarlet heart card), and throwing caution to the wind with some truly old-fashioned romantic gestures:

Order boxes of snowdrops (they are still grown in convents) and leave them outside your Valentine's window

Buy a beautifully bound book of poetry by Keats, Byron, Pushkin, or John Donne

Have an indoor picnic on a cashmere rug

Fill your Valentine's room with their favourite flowers, as in Room with a View when the Emersons fill the Miss Alans' room full with their favourite flowers, cornflowers.

Write love letters, seal them with wax, tie them with red ribbon and leave them on your Valentine's pillow to wake up to

Whisk them off to the Highlands to a cottage with an inviting open fire

That Spring feeling

I'd hate to jinx it and I can hardly believe it is true for February, but over the weekend it really felt like Spring is on its way. It reminded me of one of my favourite books, P.G. Wodehouse's Something Fresh, which starts "The sunshine of a fair Spring morning fell graciously upon London town. Out in Piccadilly, its heartening warmth seemed to infuse into traffic and pedestrians alike a novel jauntiness, so that bus-drivers jested and even the lips of chauffeurs uncurled into not unkindly smiles. Policemen whistled at their posts, clerks on their way to work, beggars approached the task of trying to persuade perfect strangers to bear the burden of their maintenance with that optimistic vim which makes all the difference. It was one of those happy mornings."

Click on the anzu tree to see the blossoms fall

Thank you

We'd just like to say thank you to all of you who were able to make it to Top Drawer Spring, San Francisco, and Birmingham trade shows. It's certainly been hectic having three in a row on opposite sides of the Atlantic, but lots of fun! If you weren't able to see us, please be sure to contact us by phone or email and get an agent to visit you and show you all our new goodies or to get a brochure.

Image: Our new daisy thank you card

Chinese New Year

Happy Chinese New Year! The year starts tomorrow and is the year of the earth rat (which doesn't sound too nice to me, but apparently can signify wealth, charm, and order). Celebrate by sending one of the anzu lantern cards, having fireworks tonight (it is traditionally the night before to scare away evil spirits), dressing in something new on the day (to mark a new beginning), and eating some lucky foods (these include uncut noodles for a long life), bamboo shoots for good wishes, rice cakes for prosperity, and gingko nuts for wealth). Decorate your home with lanterns, vases of blossoms (especially plum), and lay out platters of tangerines, oranges and trays of sweets. But be careful not to cry on New Year's day as superstition has it that if you cry on this day, you will cry for the rest of the year.

Above image: Congratulations lantern card

Tea

On my previous More tea Vicar? blog, I posted a photograph of the new tea-cups I had bought and I thought you would like to see the finished painting that I did of one of them and which is now featured on our Rose tea card. I bought the rose tea especially to illustrate just because I liked the packaging, but I must say it is also delicious. But then I love roses full stop, whether it's real old-fashioned garden roses, Laudree's rose macaroons or the rose jam packed full of petals they have in Liberty's tearooms.

Spring Fair

Things are a little chaotic at the moment, with flowers, paintings and cards everywhere as we get everything together to travel up to the Birmingham show! We shall be in Hall 3, stand no. T37 at the NEC Birmingham, England from the 3rd to the 7th February. The show starts tomorrow so we hope to see you there and can't wait to show you all our new designs!